General

Twice a year, in early spring and early autumn, TarValon.Net has an Administrative Meeting. All Executives, Officers and Board Members at TarValon.Net are invited to this meeting, where they deliberate upon strategies which might have impact on the Administrative and Membership structures in the coming year.

The Admin Meeting is an opportunity to achieve important changes to the site. TarValon.Net has always been in a constant process of evolution, as it improves its operations so it may serve its members as a growing community. Every variation to existing procedure is introduced and established in order to enhance and improve our site, so it may test and stretch its boundaries as a leading community in The Wheel of Time fandom.

Roughly two months before the meeting is scheduled, a thread is started in the Executive forum, in which the Executives, Keeper of the Chronicles and Amyrlin Seat may start adding items to the agenda. Around the same time, the date of the meeting is solidified in the General Administrative Forum (i.e. 'the Water Cooler').

Generally a week or two before the meeting, the tentative agenda is posted in the Water Cooler, at which time the majority of the Administration may give input on the proposed subjects for discussion. These Admins would be able to give input at an earlier date; they would just need to propose the suggestion to their Director, who would be able to add the item to the agenda in the Executive forum. A membership poll is also started to obtain a general feeling of the community about a variety of selected issues. These issues will usually be discussed in some manner at the Admin Meeting.

The meeting is usually a minimum of eight hours, and at times has lasted as long as eleven hours. It encompasses all Administrative issues which are up for discussion. The data compiled from the Annual Membership Survey is also reviewed.

The majority of the meeting involves minor aspects of each Department, tending to involve discussion between the Amyrlin, Keeper, Director and any Admins or Staff relevant to the current subject. This includes, among many other things, an appraisal of the budget, philanthropy goals, assessment of certain Administrative positions and many other mundane issues which allow TarValon.Net to function smoothly and with maximum efficiency.

The Admin Meeting is also the time at which the Amyrlin is able to describe any plans of future innovation, which allow our site to continue serving its members as a fresh and ever-progressive community.

There are usually a number of policies instituted at the Admin Meeting which have a major impact upon the site. In the past, a few cases which were implemented as a result of discussion at Admin Meetings were the sharing of a Bondmate’s Ajah/Company forum, evaluating members for raising to Senior Membership through the Hall rather than deliberation of either all Gaidin or all Aes Sedai, the Guesting program for Accepted/Soldiers and Voluntary Demotions for Senior Members.

After the meeting, the Executive Assistant compiles the minutes. These minutes are then issued to the Admins, which is especially important for those who were not able to be present at the meeting, so they might be updated on the new policies. Once all Admins have corresponded, the rest of the members may become acquainted with these policies through one or more posts made in the Site Announcements forum by either the Amyrlin or Keeper.

Any posts made about newly updated procedures are not discussion or debate threads, but rather serve the function of announcing these changes to the site’s members. In a site as large and dynamic as our own, it is vital to remember that every modification to existing policy is the result of an issue which required improvement. These policies are adjusted or instituted in response to previous member feedback of which the Administration was informed through the Chain of Command or within the Administrative structure or by the membership poll.

Any who wish to communicate about these newly instituted policies may do so by contacting their Membership Admin, who will relay any relevant information through the Chain of Command. All policies are, as always, up for review in the subsequent year’s Admin Meeting.

2005 Admin Meeting

Little is known of the 2005 Admin meeting, other than the decision to set formal age minimum for the different levels of membership and the requirement that any member must have a voice conversation with their membership administrator before being raised to Senior Member or attending an official event. Guilds were also introduced.

2006 Admin Meeting

The major change announced at the 2006 meeting was the introduction of the guesting and aspiring system. It was also decided to add an annual scholarship and to create a position of European Mistress of Revels to split the burden on the North American Mistress of Revels

2007 Admin Meeting

The 2007 Admin Meeting was held in June. Major changes included splitting the Mistress of Novices to create a Mistress of Accepted position and spliting Captain of the Guard into Captain of Recruits and Captain of Soldiers

2012 Admin Meeting

The first 2012 Admin meeting was held after the Eleventh Anniversary Party. For the first time, the Agenda was released ahead of meeting and comments invited. Major changes include giving community groups the ability to set their own rules for unofficial guests and the change of the Headmistress to an admin level position. A second meeting was held in the Fall, as on online meeting.